Following the Court of Justice of the European Union ruling of 20 November 2025, Ukrainian citizens with temporary protection in Bulgaria have a real opportunity to apply for humanitarian status. Previously, Bulgarian practice effectively did not allow such applications to be examined if a person already had temporary protection. That approach must now change.
In Bulgaria, subsidiary protection is called humanitarian status. Under Bulgarian law it is governed by Article 9, paragraph 1, item 3 of the Law on Asylum and Refugees. An important point: in accordance with Article 32, paragraph 3 of this law, humanitarian status is equivalent to permanent residence and is open-ended.
This is precisely why the topic is of such great interest to Ukrainians who are currently in Bulgaria under temporary protection and want to understand what the new status means in practice.
No, the Ukrainian passport is not taken away automatically.
This is one of the most important questions, and the text of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee answers it fairly directly: granting humanitarian status does not mean the automatic seizure of the national Ukrainian passport.
Moreover, if humanitarian status is granted specifically because of the war, then using a Ukrainian passport, extending its validity or obtaining a new passport should not in itself be considered grounds for terminating the status. The logic here is simple: in such cases a person leaves the country not because they fear persecution by the state, but because the state cannot ensure their safety due to the war.
After a positive decision, a person receives:
The foreigner’s card is already a full-fledged identity document in Bulgaria. This makes it fundamentally different from the temporary protection registration card.
Yes, after receiving humanitarian status a person has the right to leave Bulgaria without restrictions.
For travel you need:
But there is an important clarification here: a Bulgarian travel document for a person with humanitarian status does not grant the right to visa-free entry into EU countries. Therefore, for travel around Europe it is usually more practical for Ukrainians to use a valid Ukrainian biometric passport.
Yes, but only within the general rules for short-term stays.
After Bulgaria joined Schengen, travel within the Schengen area became easier, however the humanitarian status issued by Bulgaria does not in itself automatically grant the right to:
In other words, short trips are possible — as a rule, up to 90 days within 180 days for tourist or personal purposes. But for relocation, work or long-term residence, you already need to obtain a permit under the rules of the country the person intends to go to.
This is one of the most sensitive questions.
The BHC’s position is as follows: a short trip to the country of origin is not in itself prohibited, especially where humanitarian status was granted because of the war. If the trip is connected with urgent personal circumstances, it should not in itself become grounds for terminating the status.
The following are given as examples of such urgent reasons:
In other words, a short trip to Ukraine in itself does not mean automatic loss of status.
The problem arises when the trip begins to look not like a temporary departure on urgent business, but like an actual return to living in the country of origin.
That is precisely why the BHC’s clarification separately emphasises: if a person stays in the country of origin for a long period, this may be seen as “settling” there. The text gives a benchmark: 3 months or more may already create a serious risk that humanitarian status will be reviewed or terminated.
Put simply, the Bulgarian authorities’ reasoning may be as follows:
That is why the approach of “obtaining status in Bulgaria and then going back to Ukraine for a long time” is legally dangerous.
Yes, where humanitarian status was granted specifically because of the war, this should not be treated as grounds for terminating the status.
This is a very important practical conclusion, because many Ukrainians’ documents are expiring and renewing a passport is becoming critical. According to the logic of the BHC’s clarification, renewing or obtaining a new Ukrainian passport in such a situation does not contradict the very meaning of humanitarian status granted on war-related grounds.
No, not on the basis of Bulgarian humanitarian status alone.
This needs to be explained particularly clearly, because many people confuse the right to travel with the right to relocate. Bulgarian humanitarian status gives lawful and open-ended residence in Bulgaria, but it does not automatically turn into permission to live and work in Germany, France, Spain or another EU country.
That requires separate legalisation under the rules of the particular state.
Yes, in practice status can be renounced, but doing so without first analysing the consequences is extremely risky.
Before renouncing it, it is important to understand:
The most dangerous mistake is to give up humanitarian status without preparing a new ground in advance.
Automatically — no.
Bulgarian humanitarian status is not automatically transferred to another country. If a person wants to live in another EU state, they need to look at the rules of that particular country and understand on what ground they will be able to legalise their stay there.
In other words, status obtained in Bulgaria may make it possible to live lawfully in Bulgaria specifically, but it is not a “universal European long-term residence permit”.
This is one of the most important sections in practice.
The risk arises primarily in the following situations:
In simple terms, the status can be put at risk when the person’s own actions show that the centre of their life is once again in the country of origin.
For Ukrainians with humanitarian status granted on the ground of the war, the safest approach is to:
Humanitarian status for Ukrainians with temporary protection in Bulgaria is indeed a strong legal instrument, because it is equivalent to permanent residence and has no time limit. But at the same time it requires careful conduct.
The main things to understand:
If you are planning to apply for humanitarian status, want to assess the risks of a trip to Ukraine or to understand whether in your situation you can switch to another ground of residence, such questions are better examined individually before the documents are filed, rather than after a problem arises.
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